The Cleanway

by Tim Niederriter

  The mental signal of the gunman above fluctuated. He did not return fire. She must have wounded him, but the team leader couldn’t tell how badly.

  Through the eyes of a cringing squirrel, she watched a mob of twenty cleans pour through the gates, heading toward the house, following Damien and Miranda. The terrorists waited for their cleans to catch up. Three of them climbed the front steps of the house. The one in the lead flung open the tall door.

  Bullets from the guards inside sent the clean’s body collapsing into the grass. Blood pooled in wounds. The squirrel bolted, and the team leader lost sight of the fray.

  She switched back to a bird. Miranda fired into the entrance hall. Damien still had no weapon at the ready but he shepherded cleans through the doorways, overwhelming Sudhatho’s security forces with the stream of bodies.

  By the time Miranda and Damien stalked into the entrance hall, the walls were streaked with blood. A handful of remaining cleans stood over the bodies of private security troops.

  The team leader watched through the open doors, using the squirrel’s curious gaze once again.

  Miranda called up the stairs, loud enough for the team leader to catch her words, “Sudhatho! You won’t get rid of us that easily.”

  The team leader’s concern made her want to coax the squirrel closer, but she could not control the animal to that degree. But this was a bad day for her boss.

  Miranda and Damien marched up the stairs, heading the same way Rebecca Waters had gone. They knew this place, the team leader realized. They must have been there before.

  Unregistered Memory, Ryan Carter, Light Ship Astra III

  The light ship cruised between the towering glass and concrete pillars of the old city of New York. Kamuek guided the vessel toward the central garden while Jeth and Ryan compared what they knew.

  “Rebecca went in there by herself?” Ryan said. “No offense, but what is she, crazy?”

  Jeth’s face looked gray with nerves. “She used to do dirty work for Yashelia, so she thinks she can handle it. But I’m worried.”

  “I just saw the news,” said Alesia. “Looks like she’s not the only one looking to settle up with Sudhatho.”

  “Who?” Jeth asked.

  “Damien and Miranda,” said Ryan. “We have Carol in the ‘brig,’ and the purifiers captured Alan.”

  Jeth took a deep breath and looked at Kamuek. “We need to get there.”

  “We’ll help Rebecca,” said Ryan, “but we also have to find Yashelia’s daughter if we want to take down Sudhatho.”

  “I know,” said Jeth, “I think we can do it.”

  “If we’re not too late,” murmured Thomas.

  The lone sentry nodded, stoic as ever.

  The light ship hurtled toward the garden. Ryan held onto the seat as they swooped in low.

  The light ship dropped us off just within the garden’s walls. Thomas glanced at me just before he stepped onto the brown grass, but shook his head without a word. I thought I could guess his mind, his fear and bravery expressed equally on his face. Celsanoggi and I followed him out of the light ship.

  Ryan called to us from inside, “Find Sudhatho. We’ll scout for his daughter and guard the air.”

  “Thanks,” I said. I have to find Rebecca and fast. It’s already been an hour since I lost contact with her.

  The light ship rose skyward. Celsanoggi led the way toward the house, mask covering her face.

  Unregistered Memory, Elizabeth Ashwood, BrightNet

  “I’m Cindy Dearborne with BrightNet, and we are live with breaking news from New York City central garden. At two o’clock this afternoon, two suspects in the clean terror attacks have been spotted attacking the central garden. It is not known if there are more terrorists, but residents are advised to stay indoors, and not approach the park. We will keep you updated.”

  Elizabeth listened to Cindy read the report Elizabeth herself had written. It was the breaking news that could draw in more people to the network, but Jeth’s absence had her worried. They were on their back up net anchor, but more importantly, Sudhatho lived in the central garden. One guess and she knew where Jeth was at that moment.

  She turned to her newly recruited reporters. “We need to get a team on scene at the central garden.”

  They sprang into action, young and eager, and thank God for that.

  She contacted Sarah Harper, to fill her in on the situation.

  “This is Sarah. Elizabeth, it looks like the news is happening in my area today.”

  “That’s what I’m calling you about. My team is moving, but they’ll take time to get there.”

  “I can connect you to one of my people at the security perimeter. The police have the place blockaded but there’s definitely an aeon in the garden, still.”

  “That’s what I was about to ask you for! It’s like you read my mind.”

  “Don’t underestimate me, Elizabeth.” Sarah sounded amused. “Take your team and get to the old city as fast as you can.”

  “I understand, and thanks.”

  We found our way into the mansion through a door at the back of the house. It was locked, but Celsanoggi broke it open easily.

  I sensed three fully active human minds upstairs. Rebecca was one of them, Damien and Miranda the others. I walked past Thomas and peered down the hall toward the front entrance. Blood ran along the entryway floor into my line of sight. I smelled it, too.

  The methods of the renegades only became more intense the longer they operated. And now they were against Sudhatho, probably because his purifiers had tried to catch them in Bailey Court Garden. As if the idea attracted, rather than repelled, I walked into the scene of slaughter, knowing no one with a mind was left alive in the entrance hall.

  The door on the far side of the room swayed on its hinges, moved by the cold breeze from outside. The slaughter of cleans and guards all around me would have overwhelmed my senses and nerves a few months ago, but it was the third massacre I had seen. I raised the shotgun and pivoted to look for any cleans the renegades may have left behind.

  I found none.

  The others arrived behind me. Thomas covered his nose with his sleeve. “Damn it. I don’t think Miranda is taking that loss in the garden lying down.”

  “She probably wants to kill Sudhatho for his betrayal,” said Celsanoggi.

  I looked up the stairway. “Ironic, we may actually be here to save him.”

  “We’ll bring him to justice,” said Celsanoggi from beside me.

  Thomas nodded.

  We went up the stairs. Thomas and I carried our weapons at the ready. Celsanoggi hardly needed one against the renegades, but she held a black metal security club in one hand. She led the way toward the study where Rebecca had shot at Sudhatho.

  As we drew closer, I began to pray for Rebecca. I sensed her mind inside, but she hadn’t moved since we had arrived. It was possible she was badly hurt. I couldn’t tell where Miranda and Damien were, with their mental masking making them as undetectable as aeons. Plus they had their cleans with them.

  Celsanoggi rested her hand on the door to the study. She glanced at me and Thomas. “Be ready if Sudhatho is still inside.”

  Thomas grimaced and held his pistol at the ready. I aimed down the barrel of my shotgun. She opened the door.

  Fear quickened my heartbeat.

  The arched window behind the desk had three bullet-holes in its small panes of glass. No sign of ichor anywhere. Drops of red spotted the carpet, human blood. I held my breath as I led the way inside.

  If Sudhatho was in here, he was doing a good job hiding.

  I felt the cold of a gun barrel press to my back, then quickly lower.

  “Jeth?” Rebecca said. “What are you doing here?”

  “Helping you,” I said, turning toward her.

  Her long coat was gone, along with one sleeve of her sweater. Strips of the material were wrapped imperfectly along a bloody slash above her elbow. The makeshift bandage appeared to have stopped th
e blood flow.

  I stared at her, shotgun barrel sinking toward the floor.

  Thomas stood in the doorway, keeping his eyes on the hall outside. Celsanoggi remained outside.

  Tears ran from Rebecca’s eyes. “I wanted to kill him, to end this. I couldn’t.”

  “What happened?” I asked. “Did he do this?” I motioned to her wounded arm.

  She nodded. “He knocked me down but ran out instead of finishing me off.” She wiped away her tears with her remaining sleeve. “I thought he’d kill me, Jeth. I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t go alone, if there’s a next time,” I said. “We can handle things better together.” I glanced at the broken windowpanes. “Any idea where he’d go?”

  “He probably keeps a light ship nearby for defense,” she said. “He could try to use it as a way out.”

  I nodded to her. Walking to the window, I looked into the sky. Sure as she had said it, Kamuek’s light ship wasn’t the only vessel visible out the window. A thick, heavily-armored ship built like a flying castle floated between our friends and the garden estate.

  “You were right,” I said, “but there’s a ship still up there.”

  “That means Sudhatho’s still on the ground,” said Rebecca. “We can still stop him.”

  “And his daughter,” added Thomas.

  “How do you know that?” Rebecca asked.

  “Ryan’s been digging,” he said.

  I nodded. “No time now. We need to find them before Miranda and Damien.”

  “You’re forgetting someone, deary.” Yashelia’s voice warbled down the hall outside the study.

  I turned to Thomas, eyes widening with apprehension.

  Celsanoggi squared her stance in front of the doorway, then stepped out of sight. “Go find Sudhatho. I’ll handle Yashelia.”

  “We will,” said Thomas, raising his pistol.

  I let Rebecca lean on my shoulder as we walked into the hallway.

  “Oh no, my dears. I’m afraid I’ve recovered already.” Yashelia stepped around the corner outside.

  Rebecca and I ran from the study and down the hall. We ran the opposite way. Gunshots echoed behind us as Yashelia charged.

  We made it downstairs when a terrible crash of timbers rang out above us.

  She glanced at me. “We can’t worry about them right now. Our only chance to stop Sudhatho is to get him here.”

  “Right,” I said. “We’re on the same wavelength.”

  She got the far-off look of ichor use. “Miranda is outside, fighting someone I can’t detect.”

  “Sudhatho,” I said.

  I fell behind while Rebecca sprinted out the broken back door.

  When I emerged into the cold November afternoon, the sky was blotted by the floating bulk of the tower ship. Kamuek’s tiny vessel darted overhead in a rush of air. Neither ship opened fire. Good. In this part of the city, collateral damage could be enormous. Evidently, Sudhatho had not totally vacated his senses. Another reminder he is still mostly sane, I thought.

  Miranda appeared around the side of the house, surrounded by four cleans. Damien was nowhere to be seen or anywhere in my mental senses. I didn’t dare hope he had left the garden.

  Through the trees, I spotted a flicker of gold on the opposite side of the house from Miranda and her cleans. Rebecca stared in that direction. Sudhatho sheltered behind a tree, holding a small form to his chest so the child’s feet hung off the ground.

  The girl couldn’t have been more than five years old, golden hair, pale skin. A surgical band wrapped around her forehead, likely concealing the aeon wound there. She looked at me— More than that, she met my gaze and I felt child-like fingers in my mind.

  Are you here to hurt me?

  No, I sent back. I need your help.

  Miranda aimed down the sights of her submachine gun. “Come out, Sudhatho. I could still spare your little one.”

  “Miranda,” hissed the big aeon, “this is unexpected.”

  “Why? You figured I was done for without Alan and Carol?” She smirked. “Wrong again, boss.”

  Sudhatho moved swiftly, reacting to a glint of a scope on one of the house’s towers. He covered his daughter with his arms.

  Damien’s first bullet ripped into Sudhatho’s shoulder, the second into his back.

  The force pitched the aeon off his feet, and he stumbled across the yard, trailing ichor from the holes in his suit. His limp arm released his daughter. The child landed on her feet and ran the opposite direction from her wounded father.

  Miranda leveled her weapon at the girl.

  Rebecca stepped between the renegade and her target, revolver trained on Miranda.

  “You want to make this about her?” said Rebecca.

  I lurched into Sudhatho’s daughter’s path. I caught the little girl in my arms and then crouched in the lee of the house. If Damien shot me, I wouldn’t survive as long as Sudhatho.

  “Will you let her hurt me?” asked the little aeon huddled against me.

  “No way,” I said. “I need your help, remember?”

  “You’re joking!” Miranda’s lips pulled back in a snarl. Her cleans charged toward us. I braced myself for their blows as if that would do any good.

  I stared at the cleans racing toward us. Rebecca only had two bullets left in the revolver, and I couldn’t use my shotgun with the cleans so close to her. She darted to one side and hammered the first clean to swing at her with the but of the revolver. He went down with an all-too-human cry of pain.

  Rebecca stepped past him. Her leg snaked out and tripped the next one. The second clean sprawled onto her face. Two more raced toward Rebecca, and the others were already clawing to their feet from the cold ground.

  She ignored them and leveled her pistol at Miranda through the gap they formed. A burst of bullets kept her from pulling the trigger. Rebecca must have predicted Miranda’s shots. She dodged sideways.

  The cleans she had floored before went down with wounds from Miranda’s machine gun.

  Sudhatho’s daughter cringed with a cry of fear. I held onto her to keep her from running, but I was as afraid as she sounded.

  Miranda cut off shooting. She whirled to aim at me and the girl.

  I lifted the girl as best I could and put on a burst of speed toward the house. Always athletic, I tripped and fell two steps from where I started. Bullets whistled over my head. Sudhatho’s daughter scrambled from under me and ran toward the house.

  Two cleans grappled with Rebecca.

  Miranda scowled at me from between her other two cleans. Her face was red with anger and exertion. “Mister Gall, you shouldn’t have gotten in our way.”

  She aimed at me.

  The second-story window exploded over my head as Celsanoggi flew out the shattering panes.

  She landed in a heap, broken glass sparkling around her. Miranda’s face went pale. She turned her gun on the window where Yashelia stood. The rogue star leaped down faster than she could pull the trigger.

  Another pair of sniper bullets cut through the air. Damien missed Yashelia.

  Rebecca turned, eyes wide. She faced Yashelia across the fallen aeon and the field of debris around her. Both cleans lay unconscious on either side of Rebecca.

  The rags of Yashelia’s coat fluttered in the breeze. I scrambled after the rogue star’s daughter but she ran straight to her mother.

  “Deary,” Yashelia said, looking down at the girl with no hint of recognition on her face, only bemusement.

  Rebecca pulled the trigger. Her penultimate bullet hit Yashelia just below the collar. The rogue star staggered backward.

  She looked down at her new wound. Golden blood rushed forth. Yashelia’s knees buckled. She sank to the ground.

  The little girl at her side screamed.

  Yashelia scrambled onto all fours, glaring at Rebecca. “You know you can’t kill me that way, Rain!”

  Rebecca leveled the revolver at Yashelia’s eyes. “Just need to hit the right spot,” she said through cle
nched teeth.

  My nerves tensed as I waited for the shot, the killing bullet that would take Yashelia’s life, and I knew would put a rift between me and Rebecca forever. I waited, frozen. I waited, aching to scream at her to stop, but holding my breath.

  The seconds stretched on.

  Rebecca’s finger moved toward the trigger guard.

  There, she hesitated.

  Yashelia’s wild eyes glittered like the countless facets of a spider’s face. She clutched the wound in her chest, ichor pulsing between white fingers, turning them gold and sticky. The mad aeon’s breath whistled audibly, ragged and fierce.

  Rebecca clenched her jaw. Her eyes never moved in my direction but remained fixed on the lethal being before her. Her fingers trembled on the revolver’s grip.

  Miranda backed away, lowering her rifle.

  A shadow fell across the garden. The towering heights of a mountainous light ship hung over us, surely awaiting Sudhatho’s command.

  “Fools!” roared Sudhatho from the garden behind me. “I will see all of you pay for this insult.”

  “You will…” said Rebecca under her breath. She lowered the revolver and turned toward me. “Jeth, get Celsa.”

  I nodded, and then picked my way through the broken glass to the place where the lone sentry lay, her mask cracked with grooves by Yashelia’s blows. She looked at me, eyes opening as I drew near. I crouched at her side.

  “Thomas,” she said in a harsh voice. “He’s still inside.”

  “Is he alright?” I asked.

  She nodded almost imperceptibly. “She wasn’t interested in him.”

  “Good.” I looked around.

  Miranda ducked through a side door back into the house. Yashelia remained on all fours, eyes focused past me on Rebecca.

  Her daughter stood frozen just a meter from the rogue star.

  Rebecca walked forward, slowly, cautiously, revolver pointed at the ground, finger off the trigger, and stopped with me and Celsanoggi between her and Yashelia.

  I helped Celsanoggi to her feet.